Wordpress to Blogger Templates

Blogger and Wordpress..Which is Best?

2009-01-30T08:45:00.000-08:00

Blogger and Wordpress are two main contenders for free blog hosting.As you know this blog is hosted currently on blogger system since I like it's interface and easy handling.There are many features of blogger and wordpress which I will share with you which will also help you to decide whether to choose blogger or wordpress for your blogging journey.

1. Blogger

This is the one I currently use and is one of the most popular and most used because of its simplicity and also that it provides free blog hosting for its users. The company was bought by Google a few years after it was started and so it is now owned by Google which gives people the impression that blogger blogs get priority in the Google search engine which is apparently not true. You can sign up for a blogger blog from their homepage here: Blogger

Features:

-Uses XML and HTML (classic) templates of which there is a wide selection of.
-Pages are written in HTML.
-Does not support plug-ins but people can add functionality such as adsense and feeds to their blog using the Google gadgets which come in form of widgets.
-Provides free content, video and image hosting on their servers. They don’t support uploading of files other than these though.
-Users have the option of taking a .blogspot sub-domain or using their own top level domains such as .com, .net and such.
-Does not come in script form and so you cannot install it on your web server.

2. Wordpress

Is the most popular stand-alone blogging platform. By stand-alone I mean that you install the script on your web host and you are good to go. In many forums I always read bloggers complaining about blogger and then having all their problems solved by moving to wordpress.I had a wordpress blog for a short time and I have to say that the quality is much better but I just wasn’t happy with it. You can download the script from the wordpress homepage.

Features:

-Pages are written in PHP which explains the better quality of content.
-Uses PHP templates that are also easily available online.
-Supports plug-ins which makes it very easy to customise
-Has the ability to create custom pages different from post pages, a feature that blogger does not have.
-You can also do many things such as password protect posts and comments, prevent comment spam by blocking IP addresses, and many other additional features(they are very many I cannot list them all)
-Easy to upgrade.

Other Info

The Wordpress. team add new features and themes frequently, and since the new BlogSpot publishing system was rolled out in 2006, the Blogger software team also adds new features too but not with the same speed as wordpress do.

Visit the developer blogs to find out what's new or in the pipeline:

!CONCLUSION!

My conclusion is if you’re concerned about what your blog looks like, go with Blogger. You have more control over the look. However, the look/feel of wordpress.com’s templates are nice and clean and they are giving you a lot of options in the sidebar now.

Wordpress.com has many more options that are favorable like categories, pages, and trackbacks. This makes your blog better for visitors and encourages better conversation.

Wordpress is better than blogger if you have the money to buy reliable web hosting and also maybe a good TLD (top level domain), trust me if it wasn’t for the horrible free web hosting I was using at the time I would be writing this article in wordpress right now.

Blogger has to improve their services, they don’t offer track-backs, pings, they only way to prevent comment spamming is the word verification. That is why bloggers are always moving to other platforms but i won't.

If you are not happy with blogger or wordpress here are some other platforms you can try:

Posterous-Blogging highly simplified where all you have to do is email them the content and attach anything from pictures to videos and then they make it into a nice post. No sweat!

Textpattern-Basically the same as wordpress and is a stand-alone platform

MoveableType-Famous for being the first blogging platform to implement trackbacks but it doesn’t seem to be famous anymore

Serendipity-A very flexible platform that comes with very many features and allows users to choose between various mark-ups such as HTML, Textile, Wiki and even BBcode.

Lifetype-A less common blogging platform which has very nice looking posts which is worth looking at.

Flatpress-Very simple platform like blogger with limited features.

Wheatblog-Pretty much the same as flatpress

Loudblog-A platform that is specialised for podcasters

Onsugar-A new blogging platform that is specialised for women due to its feminine look.

I also found an article published where it is easily given "7 Reasons to Choose WordPress for Your Blog"

Removing "Showing post with label...show all posts"

2009-01-30T08:43:00.000-08:00

Here's one more thing which folks find irritating. Or unnecessary. When you click on one of your labels, blogger filters your posts tagged with that particular label. That's great, but we don't need a big box saying the same thing. If you like it though, even better. But maybe your readers don't...

So, if you want to remove it, follow me. It's an easy one.

DASHBOARD »»LAYOUT »»EDIT HTML»»hit EXPAND WIDGET TEMPLATES, find the following part of code:

Delete the code from above and replace it with this one:

Save the template. View your blog and click on some label....no more box.

How To Add "Rating" and "FeedBack" In Blogger

2009-01-30T08:41:00.000-08:00

Many of the visitors, usually do feel like leaving a comment on your posts, but finally due to laziness or no-time, they don't. If you still like to get a quick feedback from them too, then it is a better idea to place a "rating" system below all your posts, and also you can put a one-click poll like "feedback" system. It is very easy to activate any/both of these options in your blog.

Firstly go to Draft.Blogger.Com instead of Blogger.com, (Draft.Blogger.com is the beta version of Blogger). Now log in, and go to "Layout" section. Then in the "Blog Posts" click on "Edit" link.

Now in the new window that opens, you can activate the "Reactions" , "Ratings" and "Link to this post" options. You can even edit them before saving.

Pretty Blockquotes

2008-08-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of making the blogosphere a better (ie prettier) place, here are a couple of ways to dress up the lowly blockquote. This is the code for my simple blockquote:

.post blockquote {

margin:1em 20px;

}

.post blockquote p {

margin:.75em 0;

}

blockquote {

background:#EFEFF7;

}

Mine is very simple for a reason. (Not that I don't want wild and wonderful...it just would confuse my readers.) My blockquote is actually a design element that gently separates areas of code from the blog post it's self. That way my readers can see the code that needs to be copied at a glance...no guessing needed. I picked a soft color because codes can make you crazy, and tranquil blue is my way of offsetting any craziness!

One of my favorite blockquotes is with a big chunky quotation mark. I found this fun little blockquote in a theme designed by Fauxzen at Blogger Templates.

Here is the code that you paste into your CSS style sheet (between and ):

blockquote {

background-position:-10px -7px;

border: 1px dashed #FFC600;

margin: 20px 10;

padding: 0 20px 0 50px;

background: url("QuoteImage.URL") 5% no-repeat #FFF8DD;

}

<-- This is the image you will need. Right click it then save to your desktop. Upload it to your webhost. I use Ripway. After uploading, put the URL in the above code.

Here is one more. I use it on Buttermilk Clouds. It is simple in a fancy way. I'm changing the color here so you can see a variety. The great thing about this blockquote is you don't need an image to save and upload. It is all done with smoke and mirrors!

Once again, here is the code that you paste into your CSS style sheet (between and ):

blockquote{

background-color: transparent;

border-top: 3px double #DC143C;

border-bottom: 3px double #DC143C;

padding: 5px;

font-style: oblique;

font-size: 1em;

margin-left: 5%;

margin-right: 5%;

}

If you want a different color, find one on this fantastic color chart then put that color code in place of #DC143C in the code above.

I'm going to stop for now. But, this is really fun, so I will probably do more of this type of thing in the future. Especially if I see much interest in it. Let me know!

Update: 1/16/07 I forgot to mention that you should replace the old blockquote code in the CSS style sheet with the new code in this post.